Posted on 04/03/2006 10:02:15 AM PDT by Abathar
INDIANAPOLIS -- A school principal in Indianapolis suspended an eighth-grader for 10 days and recommended he be expelled for carrying a pocket knife, even though the boy said he had forgotten the weapon was in his coat pocket and turned it over to school officials as soon as he entered the building.
An expulsion hearing has been scheduled for April 10.
Elliot Voge, 14, told Stoneybrook Middle School principal Jimmy Meadows he forgot that he had left the Swiss Army knife in his pocket after using it to whittle wood last month. The next day, just after he was dropped off at school by a classmate's mother, he said he discovered the knife in his coat and immediately went to the office.
Nevertheless, Meadows suspended him and recommended expulsion. The action stunned the boy's parents, who hired a lawyer to represent him at the hearing next week.
Why the profanity directed towards me? That's certainly helpful to a rational discussion isn't it?
you desreve it
yea I know deserve...you must be fun to live with(sarc)
the filthy b*stards that run education is only surpased by the filthy b*stards in government who let them.
This kid did the 'right thing'(though not in my world) and got screwed for it.
When I was in high school in the mid 70s, I used to bring my rifle to school every Friday during deer season so I could leave to go hunting straight from my last class. I would leave it in the gun rack in the cab of my pickup, parked in clear view in the school parking lot. I remember comparing rifles with friends and teachers during lunch.
What if he had a pointed stick?
On the contrary, I suspect that knitting needles would be considered both weapons AND instruments of patriarchal oppression.
I won't be too surprised when that happens. I could, for example, see schools soon banning children with any weapons or knives in their homes. That level of insanity isn't too far from where we now are.
SoftballMominVA also said: "Knives have no place in a school."
It certainly sounds like you defend the policy of denying every eight-year-old boy the ability to carry a pocket knife with him at school.
Do you have any idea how much damage can be done to a person with a sharpened pencil? What is the problem you are trying to solve by suggesting that eight-year-olds cannot be trusted with pocket knives?
Unfortunately, there are lots of gang members in the schools these days, and they like to cause harm. If the knives get in the hands of these guys, they can cause trouble.
It sucks!
What a Maroon!. He never mentions what options the kid had at the point he discovered the knife in his pocket. He could not take it home, his ride was gone. The only choices he had were: (1)leave it outside (which would also be violation if he left it on school property), (2)take it in and immediately turn it in, or (3)leave it in his pocket, don't tell anyone, and hope that he doesn't get caught. Looks like the third option would have been the smart choice with a principal like this, although number 2 is obviously the correct and most ethical choice, given the stupid rule in the first place.
BTW, as I sit my desk at work, I have a 3 1/4" blade Beretta folding knife in my pocket, and several of my coworkers have similar sized knives that they carry on a daily basis as well.
If the school system in your area allows 8 year old boys to carry knives to school, I have no opinion on it either way. I belive in local control by local people.
So, I'm supposed to believe that...
1.) Gang members who'd have no qualms about knifing somebody are stopped cold by school rules prohibiting knives, and that
2.) The rest of the kids ought to be disarmed in the presence of these dangerous gang members.
I'm sure you are a ball to be with too. So far in just this very brief meeting you have chosen to be abusive to me, and then turned around and blamed me for the abuse.
Since knives are the topic: Yes.
It's a very effective, and very tangible, way of both teaching children to take responsibility for themselves and to demonstrate trust in them that they are learning to do so. There's really very limited trouble that a child can get into with a small pocketknife. The lessons in personal responsibility and maturity that we can teach even little children far outweigh that 'trouble'.
Besides all that, a pocketknife is an enormously useful tool. I was sort of amazed that some of my teachers didn't have one themselves ... but they were glad I did.
That's right, I forgot about the ones with forks and spoons built in. Although they were kind of bulky to be carrying around in your pocket, they were fine on your belt.
My option.....from your initial posting I decided I dont like you.
That's a software problem, not a hardware problem.
Kick the bloody gan'stas out. Schools are for learning to read write and cipher. Anybody not interested in such can go elsewhere.
The moral giants of the public schools at work again.
Based on the 2 reports, it does seem the principal over-reacted. His reaction puzzles me though. He COULD have kept the knife in his desk and followed a similiar scenario as the one I witnessed. So why? It's that little "why" that tickles me in the back that keeps me from condemning his action. Maybe he's just a right ass (God knows I've met my share of those types of principals), maybe there was a really good reason. I just don't know and it's that uncertainty that causes the cynical side to kick in and say "wait and see."
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